Some private Lakewood schools reopen

Nov. 2, 2012

Written by

@MullenAPP

LAKEWOOD — The Board of Education provided school buses to transport students to private Orthodox Jewish religious schools that opened Thursday despite the state of emergency engulfing much of the surrounding area.

Despite downed power lines, toppled trees and inoperable traffic signals at many intersections, Township Police Chief Robert Lawson deemed a sufficient number of roads were safe to allow the buses to operate, Township Committeeman Isaac Ackerman said. Lawson could not be reached for comment.

“The basic idea is that (private school leaders) don’t want to keep kids from rabbinical studies and the chief says the roads are safe,” Ackerman said. The committeeman said some schools were in session Wednesday, though parents had to transport their children to school.

More than 21,000 students attend some 100 Orthodox Jewish religious schools scattered through the township. Some 20,000 of these children ride buses to and from school provided by the Board of Education, in accordance with state law.

The storm damage here wasn’t as severe as it was in the neighboring townships of Jackson, Brick and Toms River, but as of Wednesday afternoon nearly 17,000 customers in Lakewood were still without power, according to Jersey Central Power & Light. Yet police said road hazards such as downed power lines and trees had been cordoned off, and extra officers were deployed to direct traffic intersections without working traffic signals.

“A majority of (the roads) have been made safe,” Sgt. Frank Work said.

The decision to open the private schools and allow the buses to transport students did not sit well with some township residents. Among them was Carl Fink, the school board president.

“It’s definitely not safe,” Fink said.

Ackerman, the committeeman, said he did not know how many of the private schools were open Thursday. But an employee who answered the telephone at Jay’s Busing Co., one of the Board of Education’s chief bus contractors, said the vast majority of the schools appeared to be open. Staffing those routes was a challenge in the aftermath of Sandy, she said.